ALLOYS AND THEIR EFFECT UPON STEEL

Hardness Testing
The word hardness is used to express various properties of metals,
and is measured in as many different ways.
Scratch hardness is used by the geologist, who has constructed
Moh's scale as follows:
Talc ...

Nickel
Nickel may be considered as the toughest among the non-rare alloys
now used in steel manufacture. Originally nickel was added to give
increased strength and toughness over that obtained with the ordinary
rolled str...

Chromium
Chromium when alloyed with steel, has the characteristic function
of opposing the disintegration and reconstruction of cementite.
This is demonstrated by the changes in the critical ranges of this
alloy steel takin...

Nickel-chromium
A combination of the characteristics of nickel and the characteristics
of chromium, as described, should obviously give a very excellent
steel as the nickel particularly affects the ferrite of the steel
and the chr...

Vanadium
Vanadium has a very marked effect upon alloy steels rich in chromium,
carbon, or manganese. Vanadium itself, when combined with steel very
low in carbon, is not so noticeably beneficial as in the same carbon
steel ...

Manganese
Manganese adds considerably to the tensile strength of steel, but
this is dependent on the carbon content. High carbon materially adds
to the brittleness, whereas low-carbon, pearlitic-manganese steels
are very tou...

Tungsten
Tungsten, as an alloy in steel, has been known and used for a long
time. The celebrated and ancient damascus steel being a form of
tungsten-alloy steel. Tungsten and its effects, however, did not
become generally r...

Molybdenum
Molybdenum steels have been made commercially for twenty-five years,
but they have not been widely exploited until since the war. Very
large resources of molybdenum have been developed in America, and
the mining co...

Silicon
Silicon prevents, to a large extent, defects such as gas bubbles
or blow holes forming while steel is solidifying. In fact, steel
after it has been melted and before it has been refined, is wild
and gassy. That is ...

Phosphorus
Phosphorus is one of the impurities in steel, and it has been the
object of steel makers for years to eliminate it. On cheap grades
of steel, not subject to any abnormal strain or stress, 0.1 per
cent phosphorus is...

Sulphur
Sulphur is another impurity and high sulphur is even a greater
detriment to steel than phosphorus. High sulphur up to 0.09 per
cent helps machining properties, but has a tendency to make the
steel hot short, i.e., ...

Properties Of Alloy Steels
The following table shows the percentages of carbon, manganese,
nickel, chromium and vanadium in typical steel alloys for engineering
purposes. It also gives the elastic limit, tensile strength, elongation
and redu...

Non-shrinking Oil-hardening Steels
Certain steels have a very low rate of expansion and contraction
in hardening and are very desirable for test plugs, gages, punches
and dies, for milling cutters, taps, reamers, hard steel bushings
and similar work...

High-chromium Or Rust-proof Steel
High-chromium, or what is called stainless steel containing from
11 to 14 per cent chromium, was originally developed for cutlery
purposes, but has in the past few years been used to a considerable
extent for exhau...

Annealing
ANNEALING can be done by heating to temperatures ranging from 1,290
to 1,380 deg.F. and cooling in air or quenching in water or oil. After
this treatment the forgings will have a hardness of about 200 Brinell
and a...

Hardening
The forgings can be hardened by cooling in still air
or quenching in oil or water from a temperature between 1,650 and
1,750 deg.F.
The physical properties do not vary greatly when the carbon is
within the range...

Corrosion
This steel like any other steel when distorted by cold
working is more sensitive to corrosion and will rust. Rough cut
surfaces will rust. Surfaces finished with a fine cut are less
liable to rust. Ground and polis...

Liberty Motor Connecting Rods
The requirements for materials for the Liberty motor connecting rods
are so severe that the methods of securing the desired qualities
will be of value in other lines. The original specifications called
for chrome-n...